Perceptions of Telephone Interventions for Postpartum Depression

Thesis (M.Nurs.), College of Nursing, Washington State UniversityPostpartum depression (PPD) is a condition that describes a range of physical and emotional changes that many mothers have after delivering a baby. PPD can develop after the birth of any child, not just the first child. A woman can have feelings similar to the baby blues-sadness, despair, anxiety, and irritability -but feels them much more strongly than she would with the baby blues. The purpose of this project is to discover the perceived effect of telephone contact in a sample of women with PPD and the women's thoughts about what interventions were most helpful. This project is a follow up NINR study Rl5 NR053 I1-0IA2 by Records & Rice (2002-2005) entitled "Childbearing Health of Abused and Non Abused Women." As part of the original protocol, women who had elevated depression scores postpartum, on either the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Inventory (EPDI) or the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depressed Mood Scale (CES-D) at any point in the 10-month longitudinal study received follow up assessment by telephone and, if needed, referral for intervention. The focus of this study is to identify women's perception of telephone calls and interventions received for their PPD